Super Duper AntiSpyware to the rescue! (SuperAntiSpyware)

Member Name: cybcyb

Product:	SuperAntiSpyware
Date:	24/01/09 (108 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Simple enough to use, pretty quick scanning

Disadvantages: Some of the more helpful features have to be paid for.

In basic terms, SuperAntiSpyware aim is to protect your Windows PC against all the nasty stuff you can come across on the Internet.


INSTALLATION

Once the 6MB file is installed, it tries to take some preventative action by protecting Internet Explorer from being hijacked which is worth doing even if you don't use it on a day to day basis.

Once that's sorted, you're greeted with a simple enough user interface with the first button being to scan your computer either quickly or thoroughly as well as give customise options to only scan the registry or what's in memory.

SCANNING

As it's scanning, it provides a list of rogue items as well as a table of where it's found the items. The nice thing is that at any point during the scan you can interrupt it and complete the removal of the malware it's found so far. This is ideal when you know you have malware in a particular location.


What some may find useful is that Super AntiSpyware keeps a quarantined backup of any files it's removed, just incase you need to restore it. I've never come across an occasion where I have had to restore an item.


Although it works "straight out of the box", some may wish to look at mind-boggling set of preferences that can be set for the program.


HIDDEN FEATURES!

If you've ever had malware you'll how frustrating it can be to fix as the malware disable Windows functions such as Task manager and the Run menu. Luckily hidden away in Preferences>Repair is a set of properties that can be run to bring these back to life. A great life saver if you ever have a particular nasty piece of malware.

STOP BUGGING ME (PLEASE)

One slight annoyance is that certain features are only available in the more powerful professional edition of the software, and it likes to tell you that whenever you inadvertently press a button such as Scheduled Scanning or when trying to enable the very capable Real Time Protection feature.

In fact the professional version has many other attractive features such as checking your PC on bootup and protecting the registry from certain hijacks. It's just a pity that whilst software like Spybot Search & Destroy is willing to give this away for free, Super AntiSpyware believes you should pay extra for this now basic function.

More details on the difference between the two versions can be found at http://www.superantispyware.com/superantispywarefr eevspro.html

CONCLUSION

SuperAntiSpyware should definitely be installed and used occasionally to keep your PC clean but with a slimmed down set of features in the free edition, it shouldn't be relied upon to protect you.

Summary: The free version is a great tool for your defenses against spyware.

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